With a twirl of the dial, Chrean Thompson watched colored dots on a map illustrate genetic diversity that started in Africa 200,000 years ago expand around the world.

By Jody Feinberg

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Jody Feinberg

Posted Jan. 15, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 15, 2011 at 3:13 PM

By Jody Feinberg

Posted Jan. 15, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 15, 2011 at 3:13 PM

» Social News

With a twirl of the dial, Chrean Thompson watched colored dots on a map illustrate genetic diversity that started in Africa 200,000 years ago expand around the world.

“It showed me things I didn’t know before,” said Thompson, a 16-year-old Cambridge student who visited a new exhibit on race at the Museum of Science in Boston. “I saw that the human race started in Africa and then was shaped by different environments. We happen to look different, but we’re the same in a lot of ways.”

The exhibit “RACE: Are We So Different?” poses a question and answers it with a firm “no” that challenges common assumptions.

“There is an incredible confusion about what race is,” said Alan Goodman, a Hampshire College professor of biological anthropology who helped design the exhibit and appears in it. “We, as anthropologists, see race quite differently than the general public. Race is not a reality when it comes to biology or genetics, but it’s absolutely real as a social concept that is powerful and shapes reality.”

Judging by the popularity of this traveling exhibit, it appears that many people want to better understand race. When the exhibit became booked for six years, the developers – the American Anthropological Association in collaboration with the Science Museum of Minnesota – created a second copy to meet demand. Launched in 2007, “RACE: Are We So Different?” runs Sunday through May 15 at the Museum of Science, Boston, which is offering forums, discussions and theatrical presentations to accompany it.

“Obviously, race is something that catches people’s attention,” said Goodman, who grew up in North Quincy and is co-chairman of The Race Project of the American Anthropological Association. “We were a little afraid people would think it was too touchy a subject. But the exhibit has promoted discussion rather than inhibited it.”

Broadly speaking, the exhibit is divided into components that focus on the science of race, the socio-economic impact of racial beliefs, and the personal experiences of people of different races.

Standing before a panel of photographic portraits, Thompson, the Cambridge teen, learned that many people of different races have the same blood type and fingerprint pattern. In contrast, people of the same race do not. What’s more, definitions of race have changed over time, an illustration that racial categorizations are a social construct with no basis in science, Goodman said.

“We think race has been forever, but it really wasn’t until the late 1600s that race became a scientific concept,” Goodman said. “About 40 years ago, we began to understand that race doesn’t explain differences among people, and now we understand that better.”

Much of the exhibit shows the impact of racial discrimination on African-Americans as they sought housing, health care, education and employment. The inequities are put in historical context in components on slavery, Jim Crow laws, housing, redlining and school segregation.

Page 2 of 3 - “The hope is that the exhibit will work against the prejudices that races are inferior based on biology or genetics,” Goodman said. “It’s not meant to make people feel guilty, but to lead to conversations.”

Through a variety of videos, visitors get a close look at people who feel hampered by racial stereotypes that have little to do with who they are. Aertelle Sabin, 15, of Cambridge watched teens talking about their racial identities and experiences.

“I think this will make people think about white and black and what people really are,” Aertelle said. “It may bring people closer.”

To encourage that connection, the Museum of Science has created the audio exhibit “Voices Without Faces, Voices Without Races,” in which 250 people who live in neighborhoods along Route 28 talk about their experiences about race. Opening Feb. 3, the audio collage is accepting participants who want to tell their story.

“You start out saying, ‘I know what group that person belongs to, and then say, ‘oh, wait,’ said Nina Catubig Nolan, chairwoman of the museum’s educational team for RACE. “It challenges people about how these categories hold.”

Other programs Monday are “Race, Place and Science,” a presentation by local scientists, and “Community Dialogues,” circle discussions led by a facilitator.

“Given the history of Boston and the charged emotions that can go along with concepts of race and racism, we wanted to invite community input and exchange,” said Catubig Nolan.

- “Remixing Race through Film,” a discussion with film clips at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 with Llwellyn Smith and Christine Herbes-Sommers, president and vice-president of Vital Pictures

- “Slanted Minds: The Hidden Biases of Good People,” interactive exploration at 6:30 p.m. March 30 with Mahzarin Banaji, professor of social ethics at Harvard University and co-founder of Project Implicit

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- “Snapshots: Glimpses of America in Change,” one-woman show at 7 p.m. April 27 with Anna Deavere Smith, prize-winning actress and playwright of “Fires in the Mirror” and “Twilight: Los Angeles 1992”